Secretary Pete Buttigieg
U.S. Department of Transportation
Testimony Before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
June 27, 2024
Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Larsen, and all the Members of this Committee: thank you for the opportunity to testify today—and for your continued partnership.
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to remember Representative Donald Payne Jr. He was a pleasure to work with, and a constant champion for more accessible and resilient transportation. He will be greatly missed.
Just three short years ago, I was making the case for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in front of this committee. Now we’re in the middle of an infrastructure decade unlike anything this country has seen since the Eisenhower Administration. I’m proud to report that we are now supporting more than 50,000 transportation projects in all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico and all U.S. territories.
Our country has chosen to end decades of underinvestment. And I would like to share a few examples of what this new level of investment in infrastructure means to the American people and economy.
I’ll start with the Brent Spence Bridge between Kentucky and Ohio, one of the 9,400 bridge projects nationwide. Anyone who’s traveled along I-71 and I-75 knows this bridge is a critical thoroughfare—it’s also one of the worst trucking bottlenecks in the country. Improvements have been talked about for years, and this Administration is finally making them happen. Just last month, the project cleared its comprehensive environmental review and the construction that will upgrade the existing bridge and break ground on a new, companion bridge will start soon.
When it comes to rail, we’re modernizing and upgrading our freight and passenger rail systems to make them safer. Across every region of this country, we’re building new tunnels, expanding routes, and upgrading tracks. Through the Railroad Crossing Elimination program—a first-of-its-kind initiative created by President Biden’s infrastructure package—we’re improving or eliminating over 400 railroad crossings. In addition to cutting the inconvenience of waiting for a train to pass, these projects are creating safer crossing options for drivers and pedestrians.
We’re also using our authority to make our freight rail system safer. Earlier this year we issued final rules to require emergency escape breathing apparatuses for trains carrying hazardous materials, and to establish minimum safety requirements for train crew size. We have conducted 7,500 focused inspections along high-hazard flammable train routes, issued safety advisories, and developed a new rule to require railroads to provide real-time information to first responders when a hazmat incident occurs.
Turning to aviation, airports of all sizes are undergoing major upgrades to meet the increasing number of people flying. I’ve seen some of this work first-hand in recent months. I was in Georgia in April to celebrate a construction milestone for the new Terminal D at the Atlanta Airport—done without major service disruptions, which is big when you’re the busiest airport in the world. In May, I got to see the work going on at Missoula Airport in Montana, where they’re updating an 80+ year old terminal to match current passenger capacity—and ultimately offer more flights, recruit more airlines, and keep travel costs down for passengers. And under the leadership of FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, we have refocused the oversight of Boeing—and we will continue to hold Boeing accountable as they carry out their action plan and regain trust on safety and quality improvements.
A little over two weeks ago, I joined leaders in Maryland to celebrate the reopening of the Port of Baltimore. After the shocking collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in late March, we quickly released emergency funding to put toward rebuilding the bridge. We worked closely with county, local, and state governments, as well as other partners, to help mitigate the impact on our supply chains while this critical port was temporarily closed. And now, less than 100 days later, the Port of Baltimore is once again fully open and fully operational.
Put simply: there’s a lot of important work going on right now. Our work is making our communities more accessible. Our work is creating good-paying jobs all across the country and keeping our supply chains strong. And our work has helped lower the number of traffic fatalities on our roads for seven straight quarters and continues to make all of our transportation systems safer for everyone who uses them.
There is much more to be done and we need the continued partnership of this Committee and the Congress to fully realize the potential of this new infrastructure era.
I want to thank this Committee for getting the FAA Reauthorization passed and to President Biden’s desk. Thanks to your bipartisan leadership, the FAA has critical resources that will further modernize our aviation infrastructure and keep our aviation system the safest and most efficient in the world. I’m also pleased that this law protects the automatic refunds rule and supports other consumer protection work this Department has fought so hard for, like getting rid of fees parents have had to pay to sit next to their young children on a flight.
Yet this country needs similar bipartisan leadership when it comes to rail safety. As I mentioned, this Department is doing everything possible under our existing authority to upgrade and modernize our rail infrastructure and make operations safer.
But we need to set even higher standards, and we need Congress to pass the Railway Safety Act to make tracks, cars, and working conditions safer for those who work on freight rail—and to protect those who live in the surrounding communities.
And I know we can get it done, because the last 3.5 years have been a testament to what’s possible when our Department works closely with this Committee.
With your partnership, we can keep this momentum going, we can deliver good projects for more communities, and we can build and rebuild our transportation systems to meet the 21st, and even 22nd, century needs of Americans.
Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
Written Statement of Amit Bose, Administrator Federal Railroad Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
Before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
U.S. House of Representatives
Examining the State of Rail Safety in the Aftermath of the Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio
July 23, 2024
Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Larsen, Chairman Nehls, Ranking Member Wilson, and members of the subcommittee – thank you for the opportunity to testify today on improving railroad safety.
At the outset, I want to take a moment to remember Representative Donald M. Payne, Jr. He was an avid champion for making our freight and passenger rail systems safe, reliable, and accessible to everyone. I join his family, friends, colleagues, and staff in remembering him fondly.
Today, I am pleased to join you to discuss rail safety. At the Federal Railroad Administration, we work every day to advance safety - the agency’s core mission - through the work of FRA’s safety professionals, partnerships with stakeholders, and investments in rail projects around the country.
Last week, FRA published findings following our investigation of the Norfolk Southern (NS) derailment in East Palestine. U.S. DOT safety personnel were on the ground within hours of the derailment, and have been investigating the incident and compliance with rail safety regulations. As indicated in our publicly available report, consistent with the findings of the National Transportation Safety Board, FRA found that a roller bearing overheated and failed, causing the derailment. FRA also determined that NS’s procedures and inadequate staffing for communicating information from the hot bearing detectors to the train crew may have contributed to the accident. And FRA, in consultation with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, concluded that the use of a general-purpose DOT 111 specification tank car to transport butyl acrylate contributed to the severity of the accident.
In response to the derailment, Secretary Buttigieg laid out a three-part push, pressing the major railroads and inviting Congress to join us in efforts to increase freight rail safety and hold railroads accountable. For over a year, DOT has continued those calls and urged Congress to pass comprehensive railroad safety legislation, while concurrently taking important and urgent actions within our authorities to make freight rail safer and protect the American public.
For instance, earlier this year FRA issued final rules to require emergency escape breathing apparatuses for trains carrying hazardous materials, and to establish minimum safety requirements for train crew size. FRA also conducted 7,500 focused inspections along high- hazard flammable train routes, and began collecting train length data from Class I freight railroads to better understand the complexities associated with railroads operating increasingly longer trains. FRA has deployed billions in federal grants for rail improvement and safety projects around the country, including funding 63 projects addressing more than 400 grade crossings nationwide through BIL’s new Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Grant Program, and began collecting information from rail employees about close calls they experience on the job through pilots of the confidential close call reporting system (C3RS) at two Class I freight railroads. And work remains underway with FRA’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee’s Work Group focused on wayside detector policies, procedures, and practices.
It is therefore encouraging to see renewed, bipartisan interest in this chamber for legislation that would add to the safety actions FRA has already undertaken. I am pleased to see elected leaders on both sides of the aisle pushing the railroads to improve rail safety. While FRA will continue using its existing authorities, we need Congress to do its part.
Because the truth is that the Class I freight railroads’ safety performance has stagnated over the last decade – and by some measures, deteriorated. Despite assertions to the contrary, derailment rates for our nation’s largest rail companies have not significantly improved. In fact, in the case of yard derailments, data show that the rate in 2023 was 51 percent higher compared to ten years ago. While the deterioration in derailment rates has not been uniform – recent data shows one Class I freight railroad experienced a 34 percent reduction in the rate of derailments during 2023 – the overall rate of accidents not at grade crossings has been rising slowly throughout the decade, peaking in 2022.
I want to unequivocally cut through two of industry’s consistent claims. First, while the industry often notes that derailments are less common than they were a quarter of a century ago, when we consider the significant changes in rail technology and operations, it is the last decade that provides the more meaningful and timely measure. It is also appropriate to use rates per million miles versus total incidents, as it normalizes for changes in the volume of traffic on the Nation’s railways. And over the last decade, we have not seen any meaningful improvement in derailment rates.
Secondly, while not all derailments are equal in seriousness – and certainly few rise to the level of the East Palestine, Ohio derailment in terms of severity and impact – yard derailments should not be taken lightly or likened to “fender benders.” In 2023, three Class I freight employees on duty lost their lives in rail yard accidents, while a separate incident resulted in an explosion at Bailey Yard in North Platte that forced local residents to evacuate their homes. And, earlier this month, on July 6, a conductor lost his life in a rail yard accident. Since July of last year, FRA has issued four Safety Bulletins, each describing circumstances resulting in railroad worker fatalities in rail yards.
FRA believes this is neither acceptable nor inevitable. The public and communities across the country do not think so. That is why FRA has been using our available tools to push the rail industry to do better.
As I noted earlier, this Administration has finalized several rules to improve freight and passenger rail safety, including final rules to require emergency escape breathing apparatuses for trains carrying hazardous materials, and to establish minimum safety requirements for train crew size. FRA also issued two final rules ensuring that dispatchers and signal employees receive the preparation and training they need to meet the demands of their safety-sensitive jobs; FRA now requires railroads to implement FRA-approved certification programs so that these workers are trained for success. We also finalized a rule requiring railroads to develop Fatigue Risk Management Programs in consultation with their workforce, as fatigue remains a problem in this 24/7 industry.
Those are five rules this Administration has delivered to improve safety. And yet in every instance except one, the railroad industry has either sued to block them or filed petitions for reconsideration. Those lawsuits and petitions not only inject uncertainty into enacting these commonsense safety measures that help safeguard your constituents; they also force us to redirect federal resources that could be working to advance new safety measures – including those that this Subcommittee and Congress have directed FRA to issue.
FRA also acts on emergent issues by issuing Safety Advisories and Bulletins to raise awareness to accidents, conditions, or other events that FRA safety professionals believe require prompt attention of the industry. Since the East Palestine derailment, FRA has issued 9 advisories and 10 bulletins to urge industry action on hot bearing wayside detectors; highlighting the complexities of operating long trains and the need to properly sequence a train’s cars and locomotives to help train crews safely operate trains that can be miles-long; addressing the dangers of shove movements, switching cars, close clearances, and roadway maintenance machines; and recommending railroads properly prepare for severe weather, among others.
FRA is also conducting comprehensive safety assessments of all Class I freight railroads, using interviews, observations, and focused inspections to measure their safety cultures. FRA issued its assessment of NS’s safety culture last year, and will soon issue an assessment on our review of BNSF.
The railroad industry is not static, and neither is safety. A continued reassessment of practices new safety proposals, and other actions are necessary to improve safety. While FRA has made progress improving rail safety, all too often it has been despite an industry seeking to preserve the status quo and record profits. History has shown us that, unfortunately, major freight railroads, and many in Congress, are not just willing but eager to settle for the current state of railroad safety in this country. Like the American public, FRA and the Department of Transportation think that is unacceptable.
In this safety journey, industry behavior is as important as government action. I urge you and your colleagues in both chambers to act quickly on commonsense measures to enhance rail safety across the board. I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to testify before the subcommittee today, and I am prepared to answer any questions you may have.
Long-Term Economic Benefits and Impacts from Federal Infrastructure and Public Transportation Investment
Testimony of Acting Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy Christopher A. Coes
before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
July 31, 2024
Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Scott, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for your leadership and partnership as we work to deliver projects to build a stronger, safer transportation system that connects the American people to jobs, to housing, to educational opportunities, and to one another.
DOT has been working tirelessly executing the vision of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Because of this generational investment, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced $461 billion of awards, funding over 60,000 specific projects in all 50 states, D.C., the territories, and for Tribes. As I travel across the country, these headlines don’t come close to telling the full story about IIJA’s significance.
Nationally, 47% of the US population spend more than 15% of their annual income on transportation. IIJA isn’t just an investment in infrastructure, it’s an investment in our economy and workforce, in housing, and in our Nation’s families. IIJA has allowed us to invest over $91 billion into restoring and upgrading our Nation’s transit service, creating thousands of jobs, and expanding access to even more. Bringing transportation, jobs, and housing together improves access to transportation while supporting local and regional economic development. In April, FTA announced the award of nearly $18 million to 20 projects in 16 states in Transit Oriented Development discretionary funds to support community efforts to improve access and increase affordable housing near transit.
It’s also critical that transit is available to everyone, regardless of ability. That’s why the All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP) is so important, allowing us to upgrade and modernize legacy transit stations built before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 so they are accessible to people with disabilities. Last month, we saw the groundbreaking for the first project to reach construction under this program – an upgrade to six transit stations in Philadelphia to make them fully accessible and provide access to everyday destinations.
We’re also investing in projects to reconnect communities, including through the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) Program. For example, in Columbus, Ohio, we’re funding the development of a bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor along West Broad Street, which currently divides disadvantaged communities and is one of the most dangerous roadways in Ohio. Once completed, we expect that the availability of a reliable BRT system will result in more affordable mobility options, fewer pedestrian deaths, and greater private investment along the corridor. This project is just one example of how the transit investments are helping transform disadvantaged communities into thriving ones.
More broadly, we’re exceeding our Justice40-covered programs goal, with 55% of the benefits from awards going to disadvantaged communities, particularly rural and Tribal. For example, at the border of Montana and Idaho, we’re funding the rehabilitation of a critical segment of Interstate 90 to enable it to better withstand increased harsh weather events and make it safer and more reliable for travelers and vulnerable populations nearby. We're also replacing rural bridges in South Carolina that are disrupting vital farm-to-market and commercial freight routes with existing load restrictions due to their age and condition.
In March, we experienced a painful reminder of the criticality of our Nation’s bridges to our daily lives and to our economy when the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after being struck by a container ship. We worked rapidly with multiple partners to reopen the Federal channel and Port of Baltimore in less than 100 days and continue to work with them on rebuilding the Key Bridge. Even before that incident, we have been working with communities across the country to rehabilitate and replace aging critical bridges. Earlier this month, DOT awarded more than $5 billion to support 13 large bridge construction projects, including $251 million for the I-95 Bridge over Lake Marion in South Carolina, $550 million for the I-10 Mobile River Bridge in Alabama, and $251 million to repair a cluster of bridges on I-95 in Rhode Island, to name a few. These will join significant projects that are already underway. For instance, we expect construction to begin soon on upgrades to the Brent Spence Bridge at the border between Ohio and Kentucky, which carries $400 billion in freight across the Ohio River each year.
I’m excited to see some of the earliest IIJA investments break ground, begin construction, and start to deliver benefits for the communities that they serve. We are doing our part to accelerate projects, including establishing a new Project Delivery Center of Excellence, streamlining processes by simplifying and combining complementary notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs), and providing extensive technical assistance, especially for rural and Tribal communities. On behalf of Secretary Buttigieg and the entire Department, we appreciate your ongoing partnership and shared commitment to delivering a world-class transportation system for the American people.
Thank you and I look forward to your questions.
Testimony of Shailen Bhatt, Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
Before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
July 10, 2024
10:00am
Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Capito, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
Just over three months ago, Baltimore, Maryland, and the entire Nation were shocked by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. While the collapse of the bridge itself was distressing, we must not lose sight of the devastating impact this tragedy has had on the victims and their families. The six victims were fathers, husbands, and friends in their homes and communities, and they were valued members of the construction workforce. We will always mourn these six individuals who gave their lives to strengthen our transportation system. I also want to thank all of the emergency responders who acted quickly to save lives.
Immediately following this catastrophic event, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) mobilized internally across multiple offices and externally with local, State, and Federal partners to support the response. Under Secretary Buttigieg’s leadership, FHWA coordinated with other operating administrations and offices within the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT); the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), which includes the Maryland Transportation Authority and State Highway Administration; the City of Baltimore; U.S. Coast Guard; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and others to mitigate supply chain impacts, manage traffic, and safely reopen the port. FHWA remains engaged in ongoing coordination with local, State, and Federal partners in the response efforts. FHWA is actively supporting the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the collapse. FHWA’s focus now is supporting Maryland as much as possible as they work to reconstruct the bridge. FHWA has been in direct communication with MDOT regarding all possible options for building the bridge and is committed to supporting these efforts so that the bridge can be reconstructed as quickly and safely as possible. President Biden has been clear in this Administration’s commitment to reconstructing the bridge. It is critical that we restore this vital connection for people and goods traveling along the East Coast. Ensuring that the I-695 corridor is open, operational, and safe for the traveling public at the earliest possible moment is a top priority.
On March 28th, within hours of receiving the request for funding assistance from MDOT, FHWA announced the immediate availability of $60 million in “quick release” Emergency Relief funds. These funds serve as a down payment toward initial costs, and additional Emergency Relief program funding will be made available as work continues. As of July 3, 2024, $40 million of this initial $60 million down payment has been obligated for debris removal work. The Administration is asking Congress to join it in demonstrating a commitment to aid in recovery efforts by authorizing a 100 percent Federal cost share for rebuilding the bridge, consistent with past catastrophic bridge collapses.
Under the law, Emergency Relief funds cannot duplicate assistance under another Federal program or compensation from insurance or any other source. FHWA will follow the
law, and the Emergency Relief program will be reimbursed with compensation for damages or with proceeds obtained through applicable insurance. FHWA is coordinating closely with the State of Maryland as it works through the details of its insurance policy.
FHWA continues to provide wide-ranging technical assistance to MDOT regarding procurement for reconstruction operations and project delivery strategies to reconstruct the bridge quickly and safely. The Maryland Transportation Authority issued a progressive design-build contract request for proposals on May 31st. FHWA also is working with MDOT to ensure that the new bridge will be built to current design standards and in accordance with all applicable Federal laws. On March 26, 2024, the day of the collapse, FHWA met with the National Transportation Liaisons from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss each agency’s respective emergency procedures and considerations to expedite the environmental review and permitting processes for the future reconstruction. FHWA continues to meet with Federal and State resource agencies to discuss permitting for reconstructing the bridge. A Categorical Exclusion for the replacement of the bridge is expected to be completed by the end of July 2024, and will provide the appropriate level of information to allow for a streamlined permitting approach with the respective resource agencies.
Thanks to the whole-of-government response—and industry and government entities working together—there has been significant progress, including the significant milestone of reopening the Federal channel on June 10, 2024. While there is more work to be done, the coordinated response by government and industry to date gives me great optimism. Thank you to the State, local, and Federal entities who continue to collaborate with FHWA in response to this tragic event.
Whether it is an event of this scale and complexity or the comparatively smaller but still impactful bridge incidents on I-95 in Philadelphia and on I-10 in Los Angeles, I am proud to lead an agency that is playing a part in showing the country what can happen when government and industry come together with a common goal. There are no Democratic roads or Republican bridges—transportation truly unites us.
FHWA will continue to do everything it can to support the response. As the President has said, we will not rest “until the cement has dried on the entirety of a new bridge.”
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I would be happy to answer any questions.
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STATEMENT OF MICHAEL WHITAKER ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
HEARING BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION OVERSIGHT OF AVIATION
MANUFACTURING JUNE 13, 2024
Chair Cantwell, Ranking Member Cruz, and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to be here with you today to discuss the agency’s oversight of Boeing’s production and manufacturing processes. But first, I want to thank the committee for your hard work in passing the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. The FAA has already started implementation, and we will keep you and your staff updated on our progress.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282
On January 5, shortly after departure, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 experienced rapid depressurization after the left mid exit door plug blew out of a Boeing 737-9 MAX. The next day, on January 6, the FAA took immediate action and issued an emergency airworthiness directive grounding all 737-9 MAX airplanes with that particular door plug configuration.
We mandated and oversaw a thorough inspection and maintenance process on each of the grounded airplanes before allowing them to return to service. Our findings during those inspections showed that the quality system issues at Boeing were unacceptable and required further scrutiny. That is why we increased oversight activities including:
- Capping production expansion of new Boeing 737 MAX airplanes to ensure accountability and full compliance with required quality control procedures.
- Launching an investigation scrutinizing Boeing’s compliance with manufacturing requirements.
- Enhancing oversight of the production of new airplanes with more FAA safety inspectors on-site at all Boeing manufacturing facilities.
- Increasing data monitoring to identify significant safety issues and mitigate risks early in the process.
- Launching an analysis of potential safety-focused reforms around quality control and delegation.
Boeing’s Comprehensive Action Plan
This past February, I directed Boeing to develop a comprehensive action plan within 90 days to address its systemic quality control and production issues. During the subsequent months, the FAA worked closely with Boeing as it developed their roadmap and plan for the path forward. This plan was required to incorporate the results of the FAA’s special audit as well as the findings and recommendations from the expert review panel report required by Section 103 of the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act of 2020 (ACSAA). Boeing provided its comprehensive plan to the FAA on May 30, 2024, marking the beginning of the next chapter of ensuring implementation and a renewed focus on safety at Boeing.
However, this plan does not mark the end of the FAA’s increased oversight of Boeing and its suppliers. There must be a shift in the company’s safety culture in order to holistically address its systemic quality assurance and production issues. Our goal is to make sure Boeing implements the necessary changes and has the right tools in place to sustain those changes in the long term.
We anticipate that Boeing’s roadmap will be part of an iterative process as it receives feedback and implement improvements to their design, manufacturing, and production processes.
Thanks to the ACSAA, and as reemphasized in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, Boeing is now required to have a mandatory Safety Management System, which will ensure a structured, repeatable, systematic approach to identifying hazards and managing risk. A robust Safety Management System is the foundation and structure of a safe manufacturing operation and will be a key factor in improving Boeing’s safety culture.
Boeing has also committed to the following:
- Increasing and enhancing employee training, engagement, and communication;
- Encouraging their employees to speak up without fear of reprisal;
- Boosting supplier oversight;
- Increasing quality oversight at every step of the production process, and ensuring things happen in the right sequence and are approved before moving forward;
- Getting more input from users of the system;
- Simplifying production processes and procedures; and
- Bringing state-of-the-art technology to Boeing tool and parts management.
To monitor the health of Boeing’s production and quality system, we also directed Boeing to identify key performance indictors (KPIs). These KPIs directly correspond to the targets outlined in their roadmap to improve their safety and quality systems and will help assess the effectiveness of their proposed initiatives. The KPIs provide real-time visibility into the production system with specific control limits that will trigger corrective action if needed.
FAA’s Oversight Activities
Boeing must do their part and the FAA will continue to hold them accountable for producing and delivering safe aircraft. As part of the FAA’s enhanced oversight of Boeing and its suppliers, we have added more safety inspectors in the Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems facilities, and we will maintain our increased on-site presence for the foreseeable future. Our surveillance activities include:
- More engagement with company employees to hear directly from them and gauge the effectiveness of changes outlined in Boeing’s plan;
- Additional inspections at critical points of the production process; and
- Increased auditing of quality systems, build processes, and changes outlined in Boeing’s plan.
Our aviation safety inspectors will also monitor each of Boeing’s sub-teams tasked with implementing the key focus areas of the plan. The safety inspectors will provide direct feedback on Boeing’s proposed changes and will be able to validate the reported results of the KPIs. In addition to reviewing Boeing’s KPIs, the FAA will utilize its own metrics to monitor their production health and independently assess any early indicators of risks in the system.
The FAA is committed to continuously improving our oversight practices to ensure each design and manufacturing organization meets all regulatory requirements and produces safe and compliant products. Following the lessons learned from January 5th, the FAA changed its oversight approach and those changes are permanent. We have now supplemented our audits with more active, in-person oversight—the “audit plus inspection” approach, which allows the FAA to have much better visibility into operations at all OEMs, including Boeing.
Continuous Safety Improvement
Recent events, especially the incident involving the Boeing 737-9 MAX, have shown us we cannot become complacent when it comes to maintaining safety and public confidence in the nation’s aviation system. Aviation safety is a collaborative effort, and we must all work together to ensure we continue to maintain and build on the agency’s safety record. We must all continuously improve and reexamine our processes and procedures that support our shared safety mission by collecting, sharing, and using data to detect risks, simulate outcomes, and optimize our decision-making to ensure the safety of the flying public.
Maintaining the safest aviation system in the world requires rigorous oversight over the entire aviation system, including ourselves – ranging from our own workforce to pilots, air carriers, manufacturers, and airport operators. Since being confirmed as Administrator, I have committed to looking internally within the FAA and improve our own processes and procedures. We already have taken a number of actions over the last several months to strengthen our safety culture and mitigate risk in the system.
From an oversight perspective, the FAA has multiple monitoring tools that we are actively leveraging across different parts of the agency. For example, the risk index utilized as part of our assessment of an air carrier’s operations has been an effective tool in identifying emerging safety trends before they become significant risks in the system. This data-driven process recently led us to conduct more rigorous oversight and an in-depth examination of an air carrier following an indication of an increase in the level of risk in their operations.
We are working to bring similar types of monitoring principles across the board to the entire aviation system. We can apply these types of principles to evaluate risk, regulatory capture, and other safety concerns to how we oversee manufacturers, air carriers, airport operators, air traffic controllers, pilots, and other aviation users. As we leverage different tools and best practices internally and externally, we will continue to look for ways to improve and refine our safety oversight activities at the FAA.
In closing, let me stress: the agency’s number one priority is safety. The FAA will always take appropriate action to protect the flying public – whether that action is against a manufacturer, toward an airline, or enhancing oversight of our own operations. As we carry out our regulatory responsibilities and oversight activities, safety will always inform our decision-making.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have.
Testimony of Shailen Bhatt, Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
Before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works June 5, 2024
10:00am
Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Capito, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
We are halfway through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s five-year authorization period. When I appeared before this Committee a year ago, I noted that FHWA was working tirelessly to implement the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. That same level of effort continues, and today I look forward to discussing FHWA’s progress since I last appeared before the Committee.
I have long believed that a transportation agency exists for two reasons: to save lives and to make people’s lives better. The historic funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act is enabling projects that will do just that. Since enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, FHWA has distributed over $180 billion in highway formula funding to States and issued Notices of Funding Opportunity for over $16 billion in available discretionary funds. The success of these programs depends, in part, on the streamlined delivery of funding – to get projects to, and through, construction. Since enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, FHWA has taken steps to speed up project delivery. For example, we stood up a new, permanent team to oversee grants-management matters and have several acceleration activities underway. FHWA has a history of providing technical assistance and is committed to supporting our stakeholders at the State, local, and Tribal levels to ensure we deliver projects on time and on budget.
Since I last appeared before this Committee, FHWA has continued to make significant progress in advancing new programs and funding projects that improve safety, reduce bottlenecks to keep freight moving, and will make our infrastructure more resilient. The President’s budget request of $62.8 billion for FHWA, which, when added to the $9.5 billion in advance appropriations contained in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, results in a total of $72.3 billion, builds on the progress made to date and will enable continued progress as we deliver on the promise of this historic legislation. FHWA’s mission begins and ends with safety, and in addition to safety, FHWA’s work is guided by an initiative we refer to as “DRIVEN for the 21st Century.” There are six aspects to this initiative: Delivery, Resilience, Innovation, Values, Equity, and our Nation.
One example that is emblematic of FHWA’s progress is the rehabilitation and reconfiguration of the Brent Spence Bridge. When I was a college student at Western Kentucky University, I used to drive across that bridge and remember thinking it was very old. While serving as a Deputy Executive Director at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, funding for the bridge seemed decades away. During the Obama Administration I served at FHWA and I remember the Ohio congressional delegation highlighting the funding needs for the bridge, but we were unable to move it forward. We announced a grant award for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the bridge in 2023, and completed the environmental review last month. Now, this bridge that connects the Kentucky and Ohio communities on either side of the Ohio River is no longer a decades-away dream but is a reality as the project is expected to go to construction later this year. The Brent Spence Bridge project is a prime example, but there are tens of thousands of projects across the country that are becoming a reality thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The backdrop to all project delivery remains safety, which is FHWA’s number one priority. I have spent my entire career in transportation working to make our roadways safer and I believe our collective work has saved lives. Although we have seen some signs for cautious optimism based on recent data, roadway fatalities, particularly among vulnerable road users, remain stubbornly high and much work remains to improve road safety. Whether it is the over $1.7 billion in grants to over 1,000 local communities under the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Program to improve road safety and help prevent deaths and serious injuries on their roads, the Saving Lives with Connectivity: Accelerating Vehicle to Everything (V2X) Deployment grant opportunity, or the Intersection Safety Challenge that aims to transform roadway intersection safety, all of these investments under the umbrella of the National Roadway Safety Strategy will be critical to saving lives. We look forward to delivering these projects with a resolute focus on our goal of zero deaths on American roadways. We need to continue to make investments in safety, make good safety policy decisions, and harness technology to get us to our goal of zero deaths–not decades from now but much sooner.
Projects that improve safety are being delivered all over the country. Last September, I joined State and local officials in Wyoming to unveil 200 new truck parking spaces along Interstate 80. These new truck parking spaces will improve safety and facilitate safe and efficient freight movement along one of the busiest Interstates in the U.S. Last year, the first component of a Tribal Safety Project in North Dakota began construction, and construction for the second component of the project is planned for this year. The project, which was awarded a $19.5 million RAISE grant, will provide safer roads on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara (MHA) Nation, and will reduce delays to improve mobility and community connectivity for underserved and disadvantaged Tribal communities.
During my career, I have always believed in our ability to achieve transformation through transportation. I was pleased to witness this in action recently in Newark, Delaware, where I joined State and local officials for the renaming of the Newark Regional Transportation Center as the Thomas R. Carper Train Station. This train station was transformed from a former automotive plant into a multi-modal passenger rail station. This project, which received over
$12 million in funding under the Department of Transportation’s TIGER Program (now known as RAISE), was a transit-oriented development catalyst for University of Delaware’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. Although it is not a highway project, there are countless examples of similar transformation happening with transportation infrastructure across the country. Thank you, Senator Carper, for being a transformational leader and a true bipartisan champion for transportation.
One area of transformation is our progress towards a convenient, affordable, reliable, and equitable national electric vehicle (EV) charging network. While some have been critical of progress related to building out an electric vehicle network, since the President took office, the number of publicly available charging ports has grown by over 90 percent, with over 183,000 publicly available EV charging ports across the country. Our programs are accelerating private sector investment that puts us on track to deploy 500,000 charging ports well ahead of schedule and continue to expand a convenient and reliable charging network. FHWA, in collaboration with the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, continues to work with States as they access the $7.5 billion from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program and Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program. Each State was required to submit an update to their EV Infrastructure Deployment Plan by August 1, 2023. FHWA approved all EV charging plans from States, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, unlocking approximately $885 million in FY 2024 NEVI formula funding to implement those plans. EV charging stations funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have been opened in six States: Hawaii, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, and Vermont, with EV chargers in more States expected to come online soon. In January 2024, FHWA announced $623 million in Community and Corridor grants under the CFI Program to strategically deploy publicly accessible EV charging and alternative fueling infrastructure projects in 22 States and Puerto Rico. The first round of grants will fund construction of an estimated 7,500 EV charging ports. Also in January, FHWA announced the award of nearly $150 million to 24 grant recipients in 20 States to make existing EV charging infrastructure more reliable. These grants, under the EV Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator, will be used to repair or replace nearly 4,500 existing EV charging ports. FHWA is working with recipients to execute grant agreements as expeditiously as possible, which will translate into more ports available to drivers of EVs. We issued the NOFO for the second round of funding for these two programs on May 30, 2024.
I want to recognize this Committee for championing passage of the first surface transportation infrastructure bill to include a climate title, recognizing the growing impacts of our changing climate throughout the country. We need a resilient transportation system. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides historic resources to address this issue. In April, FHWA announced nearly $830 million in grants from the PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program for 80 projects nationwide to help communities strengthen transportation infrastructure to make it more resilient to natural hazards, including climate change, extreme weather, and other disasters. I was in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where I joined Governor Whitmer and other State and local officials to celebrate a $38 million award under this program to update aging stormwater infrastructure. While in Kalamazoo, I heard stories from so many people who shared vivid memories of the terrible flooding they endured just a few years ago. This PROTECT award represents more than just funding to the people of Kalamazoo—it represents hope that they will never have to endure such horrible flooding again. Last month, I was in Philadelphia to celebrate a $14 million award under the PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program to rehabilitate two deteriorating bridges over Wissahickon Creek in Northwest Philadelphia. Built in the 1800s, the Bells Mill Road and Valley Green Road bridges provide access to Wissahickon Valley Park, a noteworthy natural destination in the city that experiences frequent flooding. At the event, I met a potential future FHWA Administrator – an eight-year-old boy who came to visit the project on his bicycle. He and I had an opportunity to sit down and discuss infrastructure. His enthusiasm not only filled me with great hope for the future, but our conversation was a reminder that the projects that are occurring today thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will have positive effects for future generations.
Our transportation system primarily was designed and built in the 20th Century. It was not designed to handle the climate impacts we are seeing in the 21st Century. Since January 2021, FHWA has made available over $3.5 billion in Emergency Relief (ER) Program funding to States, territories, Tribal governments, and Federal Land Management Agencies for climate- related events. Whether it is damaged roads in California caused by Tropical Storm Hilary or flood damage that caused the closure of Yellowstone National Park and impacted roads and bridges in Montana, Wyoming and the surrounding areas, climate-related disasters impact our transportation assets in States throughout the country, without regard to political makeup, geographic location, or topography. I have witnessed this first-hand holding leadership positions in three States during my transportation career. Hurricanes Irene and Sandy devastated Delaware and many States along the East Coast. In Colorado, we grappled with the impacts of wildfires and flooding. And in Kentucky, we experienced torrential flooding. Every State in our Nation is impacted by climate events. And the increased frequency with which these impacts are occurring highlights the significance of the ER Program and the financial strain that it is currently under.
While not a climate-related event, the most visible recent ER event to all Americans is the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, and I would be remiss if I did not highlight the efforts of FHWA and Department staff, the Maryland Department of Transportation, the City of Baltimore, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, and private sector stakeholders, who have responded to that disaster. I also want to thank the emergency responders who acted quickly to save lives. The response to this disaster has highlighted the ability of industry and government entities to work together in times of calamity as they have done since the bridge collapse. It truly has been a whole-of-government response. While FHWA’s focus now is supporting Maryland as much as possible as they work to reconstruct the bridge, we must not lose sight of the devastating impact this tragedy has had on the victims and their families. We will always mourn the six individuals who lost their lives while working to strengthen our transportation system.
I have been engaged in a number of bridge-related incidents during my career, including the comparatively smaller but still impactful bridge incidents on I-95 in Philadelphia and on I-10 in Los Angeles, and I have never seen something on the scale of the Key Bridge collapse. While it is a monumental task to clean up the site and rebuild, the coordinated response by government and industry to date gives me great optimism. Less than two weeks ago, I was pleased to join State and local officials in Philadelphia to commemorate the complete reopening of I-95. That reopening—less than one year after the partial collapse of that vital corridor— is thanks to the tireless work of local, State, and Federal partners, the private sector, and union crews working around the clock, and is a testament to the strength of our partnerships and what we can accomplish when we work together.
From delivering projects to improve safety and resilience, to responding to emergency events, during my remaining tenure as Administrator, I will continue to endeavor to ensure that FHWA serves as a shining example to the American people of government in action.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I would be happy to answer any questions.
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STATEMENT OF
ANN C. PHILLIPS
MARITIME ADMINISTRATOR
MARITIME ADMINISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HEARING ON “REVIEW OF FISCAL YEAR 2025 MARITIME TRANSPORTATION BUDGET REQUESTS,
PT. 1: MARITIME ADMINISTRATION AND FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION”
April 30, 2024
Good afternoon, Chairman Webster, Ranking Member Carbajal, and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for your tremendous support for the Maritime Administration (MARAD), the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), and the U.S. maritime industry. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to testify today on the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget, and how this request will enable MARAD to continue to advance key priorities in support of our economic and national security.
Before I go further, allow me to express on behalf of the Department of Transportation (DOT) our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed. I also want to express thanks to the United States Coast Guard for spearheading the Federal response at the Port of Baltimore, and to all of our Federal partners –especially my DOT colleagues at MARAD and the Federal Highway Administration, as well as Maryland state and local officials for their ongoing response to the Baltimore bridge collapse.
This event highlights how important our maritime transportation system is to the Nation’s economic and national security. The collapse of the Key Bridge, COVID, attacks in the Red Sea, and recent weather disasters serve as notable reminders of the need for flexibility and redundancy to support the transportation segments of our supply chain. As we overcome this tragedy, we demonstrate once again our great resolve and ability to respond as a Nation.
FY 2025 BUDGET REQUEST
MARAD’s mission is to foster, promote, and develop the maritime industry of the United States to meet the nation’s economic and security needs. The President’s FY 2025 Budget request of $859.7 million for MARAD will enable the agency to continue to strengthen our sealift enterprise by advancing recapitalization of the Ready Reserve Force (RRF) and the vital commercial sealift programs that support U.S.-flagged vessels operating in the foreign trade.
The President’s request will also support investments in our ports and waterways to improve supply chain resiliency, expand our efforts to address climate change, and advance environmental justice for port communities. In FY 2025, $450 million provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to support the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) will be invested in new grants. The President’s budget requests an additional $80 million to support PIDP, which would bring the total amount of funding available in FY 2025 to $530 million and enable us to continue modernizing our ports to help reduce the cost of moving goods from ships to shelves and from American farmers and factories to end-users at home and abroad.
In addition, the President’s request will enable MARAD to continue critical investments to address the urgent and long-standing challenges at the USMMA. Further, it will enable us to implement the many new authorities and responsibilities provided in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY 2024 NDAA).
ECONOMIC AND CLIMATE SUSTAINABILITY INVESTMENTS
Last year, MARAD awarded more than $653 million in PIDP grants. This total included the third tranche of $450 million in funding provided by the BIL, approximately $212 million in FY 2023 appropriations, and unexpended funding from a prior PIDP round. The 2023 PIDP awards funded 41 projects in 25 states and one territory. More than $100 million in the funding awarded last year focuses on port electrification to improve air quality, while nearly $202 million of the awarded funding supports projects that will advance offshore wind farm developments. These efforts are helping to advance the important objectives of the BIL, and the vital goal of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative—that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain covered Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
This year thanks again to the BIL and the funding provided in the FY 2024 appropriations measure, $500 million in funding is available for PIDP grants. An additional $72 million in FY2024 appropriations has already been congressionally directed to 22 projects. The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for this program is open and applications are due by May 10, 2024.
The FY 2025 Budget also requests $10 million for the United States Marine Highway Program. Marine highways support our maritime supply chains and enable more cost-effective transportation options for U.S. shippers and manufacturers. In 2023, MARAD awarded nearly $12 million in marine highway projects. The funding awarded last year will support 8 projects across the nation—and nearly all the funding is supporting projects in disadvantaged communities or Federally designated community development zones. In FY 2024, $5 million in funding is available, and MARAD will begin accepting applications soon.
The FY 2025 Budget also requests $20 million for MARAD’s Small Shipyards grants to support infrastructure improvements at qualified small U.S. shipyards to help improve their efficiency and ability to compete for domestic and international commercial ship construction and maintenance opportunities. Investing in shipbuilding supports job creation in a vital domestic industrial base. These grants can also be used to support the acquisition of equipment that reduces negative climate impacts and adapts technologies that reduce shipyard power consumption.
Within MARAD’s FY 2025 Budget request, $6 million will support the Maritime Environmental and Technical Assistance (META) program. The META program fulfills a niche in the Federal government by being specifically designed to assist stakeholders with innovation that supports a safe and efficient U.S. maritime transportation sector. Approximately 75 percent of the FY 2025 funding will be focused on efforts related to decarbonization of the maritime transportation sector.
The FY 2025 Budget request for MARAD includes $3.7 million for the Federal Ship Financing Program (Title XI) to provide the salaries and overhead support to manage the loan portfolio, currently at $1.3 billion in outstanding loan guarantees. This program is designed to manage loans that help promote the U.S. shipyard industry by providing additional opportunities for vessel construction and modernization, including repowering, that may otherwise be unavailable to ship owners.
The President’s FY 2025 Budget requests $6 million for MARAD’s Ship Disposal Program for support staff and overhead costs to continue to put primary emphasis on the disposal of the worst conditioned, non-retention vessels to mitigate environmental risks.
U.S. MERCHANT MARINE EDUCATION AND TRAINING
MARAD supports mariner training programs to produce highly skilled, USCG credentialed officers for the U.S. merchant marine. Specifically, MARAD supports mariner education and training at USMMA, and it facilitates mariner education through the extensive support we provide to the six state maritime academies (SMA).
Graduates of USMMA are required to maintain their licenses for 6 years and to sail on commercial vessels or serve in other capacities—such as on active duty in U.S. uniformed services—for 5 years. USMMA is also the principal source of new officers for the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Sealift Officer (SSO) Program, which maintains a cadre of approximately 2,000 U.S. Naval Reserve Officers with the training and credentials to operate strategic sealift resources at times of national need.
The President’s FY 2025 Budget requests $191 million to support academic operating expenses for approximately 975 cadets and 293 faculty and support staff, including expanded support for the extensive facility maintenance and repair needs of the Academy’s aging physical plant. It includes 21 new positions to support National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) recommendations and address various efficiency and effectiveness initiatives. The budget also seeks funding for the Every Mariner Builds a Respectful Culture (EMBARC) program implementation. MARAD established the EMBARC program in December 2021 to help prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment during the Sea Year program, to support survivors, strengthen a culture of accountability, and improve safety for all mariners.
Today, there are 21 commercial operators enrolled in EMBARC; together, they operate more than 180 vessels. All vessel operators that are required to carry USMMA cadets under 46 U.S.C. § 51307(b)—i.e., operators with vessels enrolled in the MSP, TSP, and the CSP—have enrolled in EMBARC, and MARAD is conducting both scheduled and unscheduled vessel assessments, at a rate greater than the 10 percent required under 46 U.S.C. § 51322, to ensure compliance with EMBARC standards.
In addition, USMMA’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPR) is working to build midshipman awareness and eliminate obstacles to reporting sexual assault and violence. MARAD is working as quickly as possible to develop an EMBARC rule pursuant to the authority provided by the FY 2023 NDAA. Additionally, the USMMA has established an Advisory Council, as required by 46 U.S.C § 51323, tasked with providing actionable recommendations on improving the Academy. Importantly, the Council includes experts in sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention and response.
The Biden-Harris Administration has long recognized the urgent need to rehabilitate and replace existing infrastructure and to significantly strengthen the ability of MARAD and USMMA to plan and manage capital investments and major maintenance efforts. Working closely with leaders and experts from the DOT, MARAD has implemented numerous measures to improve our ability to manage capital projects. Consistent with a recommendation from the National Academy of Public Administration, MARAD/USMMA created a new director position that is staffed with a Senior Executive to oversee all capital and maintenance projects at USMMA. MARAD and the DOT have also created new oversight bodies to ensure that investments of taxpayer funds are properly managed, and yield completed projects that address the Academy’s most urgent needs.
In early March, MARAD provided the Committees on Appropriations and made public USMMA’s FY 2023 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The FY 2023 CIP explains significant changes made to active and out-year projects since USMMA’s last CIP report, which was provided in late 2022. These changes are based on demonstrated need, as well as the principles that guide our prioritization of capital and maintenance projects. Specifically, our highest priorities for capital and maintenance investments are supporting the safety, health, and well-being of cadets and supporting the Academy’s academic mission.
The USMMA is in the process of developing a deferred maintenance plan that will focus on high impact maintenance actions that are both wide-spread and that most-directly impact the safety and quality of life of cadets and staff. The priorities include campus HVAC systems, plumbing, roofing and repair of building facades. In November 2023, the Academy started work on developing a Facilities Master Plan which will identify its priorities under its Capital Improvement Program. This plan, which will cover the next several years and will affect the entire campus, is expected to be in effect by the end of the year.
Eighty-six million dollars in capital improvement funds are requested in FY 2025 that would enable us to initiate a barracks renovation program as well as renovations of Wiley and Delano Halls. Funding would also enable us to rehabilitate roads, sidewalks, and parking lots.
The FY 2025 Budget request also includes $87 million to provide support to the six SMAs. This request includes funding for school ship maintenance and repair, the Student Incentive Program (SIP), direct SMA support, fuel assistance, and National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) pre-delivery and post-delivery support. MARAD has cooperative agreements in place with three SMAs, with Maine Maritime Academy being the latest as of January 31, 2024. The amount of $58.3 million has been obligated for eligible pier upgrades necessary to enable heavy weather mooring of the NSMVs.
Funding would also meet maintenance and repair costs to maintain the legacy school ships and continue our direct support to the SMAs.
There are currently four NSMVs under construction with one ship — the EMPIRE STATE — delivered last fall. The second ship—the PATRIOT STATE—has an anticipated delivery to Massachusetts Maritime Academy in July of this year.
The FY 2024 NDAA also increases the authorized amount of SIP payments from $32,000 to $64,000, providing additional financial support to cadets who enroll in the Strategic Sealift Midshipman program.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Providing sealift to meet the nation’s needs is a critical part of MARAD’s mission, and we have proudly met the challenges of managing the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) for 78 years. America’s strategic sealift provides the nation with the capability to rapidly project power globally by deploying Department of Defense (DOD) forces and moving cargoes worldwide during peacetime and wartime—including through contested environments—whenever activated by the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM).
Our Government-owned sealift fleet is supported and leveraged by a fleet of privately owned, commercially operated U.S.-flag vessels in the Maritime Security Program (MSP) and the Tanker Security Program (TSP).
The FY 2025 Budget requests the full authorization level of $318 million for the MSP, which is the heart of sustainment sealift. In return for a stipend, MSP operators provide the DOD with assured access to their ships and their global networks of critical capabilities, including intermodal facilities at home and abroad used to unload and transport military cargoes to final destinations.
There are 60 commercially-viable, militarily-useful vessels enrolled in MSP. These vessels are active in international trade and are on-call to meet the nation’s need for sustained military sealift capacity. The MSP supports and sustains the merchant mariner base by providing employment for 2,400 highly-trained, skilled U.S. merchant mariners who may also crew the U.S. Government-owned surge sealift fleet when activated. The MSP also supports more than 5,000 additional shore-side jobs in the maritime industry.
MARAD has fully implemented the TSP program, awarding ten operating agreements to four different U.S. companies between April 20, 2023, and December 17, 2023. One of the program participants voluntarily withdrew one of their vessels from the program after accepting a long-term-charter to the U.S. Government, making the vessel ineligible to participate in the TSP. MARAD is in the process of filling that vacancy and anticipates filling the slot this summer. The FY 2025 Budget request for the TSP program is $60 million, for up to 10 enrolled tanker vessels. The TSP will strengthen the U.S supply chain and improve the movement of liquid fuel products while creating good paying jobs. Moreover, these ships will ensure DOD has assured access to critically needed product tankers capable of loading, transporting, and storing on-station bulk petroleum refined products to support national economic security. We are preparing to deliver the requested report on Opportunities and Challenges to Grow the U.S.-Flag Tanker Fleet in International Trade to Congress soon.
MARAD is partnering with our stakeholders, both Federal and non-Federal, to work to identify strategies to help address the mariner shortage and ensure their readiness. As part of MARAD’s effort to meet a FY 2024 NDAA requirement to establish a Maritime Workforce Working Group, MARAD held its first meeting on March 20, 2024. Consistent with the FY2024 NDAA the group will help identify the number of licensed and unlicensed mariners, make recommendations to improve United States merchant mariner recruitment and retention, and evaluate potential gaps or surpluses of credentialed merchant mariners required to maintain and operate the RRF. In addition, on April 16, 2024, MARAD hosted a Mariner Work-Life Balance Symposium which brought together stakeholders from across the maritime industry to discuss issues related to work-life balance and recommendations for improvement that will boost mariner recruitment and retention.
We also note that the existing U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) licensing system (Merchant Mariner Licensing and Documentation system) relies on dated 1980s technology with relatively no querying capability on the number and availability of mariners with various credentials essential to meet our economic and national security needs. We fully support the USCG’s ongoing efforts to modernize the system to enable efficient issuance of mariner credentials and provide enhanced querying capabilities.
MARAD is also focused on supporting our U.S.-flagged fleet through opportunities to carry cargo. As I said in 2022 testimony before the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, put simply, without cargoes, ships will leave the U.S. flag and our modest fleet will continue to dwindle to the point that the number of American vessels is simply too small to meet government shipper agency requirements whether military or civilian. We are working with the Biden-Harris Administration’s Made In America Office to help agencies understand cargo preference requirements. In addition, we have again written to all Federal departments and agencies explaining how MARAD can help them ensure they meet their obligations under cargo preference laws and regulations. To date, 60 percent of these Federal agencies have responded, with some providing outstanding bills of lading. MARAD is currently preparing the annual report.
MARAD is also working diligently on revisions to cargo preference regulations as required by the FY 2023 NDAA.
One of the current challenges with meeting cargo preference requirements is ensuring we have both enough vessels and the wide mix of vessel types to carry the many types of cargoes that the government impels. To help attract additional vessels to our flag, last year, the Biden-Harris Administration proposed that Congress eliminate the 3-year period that vessels entering the U.S. flag must currently wait before they are eligible to carry civilian agency preference cargoes. This would ensure that vessels that choose to sail under the U.S.-flag can carry preference cargoes as soon as they enter the flag and provide opportunity to diversify the types of vessels available to civilian agencies to carry cargoes. In return the vessels would be required to remain under U.S. flag for 3 years. This proposal became law as part of the FY 2024 NDAA but will only become effective January 1, 2030.
The President’s FY 2025 Budget requests $974 million from DOD budgetary authority for MARAD to acquire, upgrade, and maintain vessels in the NDRF and RRF. These funds enable MARAD to maintain the fleet in a ready, reliable, and responsive condition, using a contracted workforce of commercial ship managers and a small cadre of shipboard caretaker crewmembers. Sustaining sufficient resources for maintenance and recapitalization will ensure MARAD’s ability to meet strategic sealift for the U.S. Armed Forces, and humanitarian support when called upon during national emergencies, as well as maintain MARAD’s NDRF fleet mooring sites.
MARAD’s RRF consists of sealift ships providing a mix of capabilities. MARAD is now the sole surge sealift provider. Our RRF ships provide sealift surge capability to deliver DOD equipment and supplies where needed during the initial stages of a response to a major contingency. Today, the RRF is a fleet of 48 vessels, with an average age of more than 45 years, maintained in a reduced operating status—ready to sail within five days of activation. The fleet will grow to 51 vessels after the planned transfer of additional surge sealift and prepositioning vessels from the Military Sealift Command is complete by the end of FY 2025.
I note that four RRF vessels are currently berthed at the Port of Baltimore. While the restriction of movement for these vessels is affected by the Key Bridge collapse, crew on two of the vessels are currently conducting regulatory or casualty repairs and neither of the remaining ships has been activated. One ship normally berthed in Baltimore will remain in Hampton Roads, VA, while crew is conducting required regulatory repairs until harbor clearance operations are completed.
As part of the Navy’s overall plan for sealift recapitalization, MARAD is responsible for maintaining the existing RRF ships through the recapitalization period, including dozens of ships that are now nearly 50 years old or even older. Continued focus on safety, material condition, and regulatory compliance has been difficult to sustain, and challenges have been compounded by equipment and parts delays, and the increased scope of the repairs we have had to undertake, including steelwork.
MARAD is working to advance the urgent recapitalization of the RRF with the limited authorities provided. MARAD is making use of the authority Congress provided to purchase vessels for RRF through a contracted Vessel Acquisition Manager (VAM). This innovative process allowed MARAD to efficiently purchase the first two ships in FY 2022. In Q2 FY 2023, the VAM completed purchase of three more extremely capable ships including one that is 10 and two that are 11 years old. These ships were purchased for approximately $90 million per ship.
The reflagging process for these vessels is continuing along the stringent Alternate Compliance Program regulatory framework and the ships will be ready-for-tasking in Q3 2024.
MARAD continues to work with our VAM and has identified several potential ships for purchase and engaging owners of the best four additional ships for purchase to reach the Congressionally limited number of 9 used ships.
In the FY 2023 NDAA, MARAD was directed to develop a Roll-On/Roll-Off ship design for the construction of 10 new vessels for the NDRF. MARAD thanks Congress for appropriating $12 million in FY 2024 funds to initiate the vessel designs.
CONCLUSION
These programs represent MARAD’s priorities. We will continue to keep you apprised of the progress of our program activities and initiatives in these areas in the coming year.
Thank you for the opportunity to present and discuss the President’s Budget for MARAD. I appreciate the Subcommittee’s continuing support for maritime programs, and I look forward to any questions you and the members of the Subcommittee may have.
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STATEMENT OF WILLIAM K. PAAPE
ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR
OFFICE OF PORTS & WATERWAYS
MARITIME ADMINISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION
AND
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION & MARITIME SECURITY
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HEARING ON
“PORT SAFETY, SECURITY, AND INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT”
April 5, 2024
Good morning, Chairman Webster, Chairman Gimenez, Ranking Member Carbajal, Ranking Member Thanedar and Members of the Subcommittees. Thank you for your tremendous support for the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP), a discretionary grant program, and its role in bolstering the safety and security of our nation's ports.
Before I go further, allow me to express on behalf of the Department of Transportation our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives last week when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed. I also want to express thanks to the United States Coast Guard for spearheading the Federal response at the Port of Baltimore, and to all of our Federal Partners – especially my DOT colleagues at MARAD and FHWA – as well as Maryland state and local officials for their ongoing response to the Baltimore bridge collapse.
Times like this highlight how important our maritime transportation system (MTS) is to our economic and national security. Our MTS, and for that matter, our entire national surface transportation system, is the best in the world. We have the greatest inherent flexibility and redundancy to support the transportation segments of our supply chain.
The collapse of Key Bridge, the COVID surge, the attacks in the Red Sea, and Hurricanes Maria, Sandy, and Irene, to name a few, serve as notable reminders of how vital ports are to our Nation’s economic vitality. Equally, our responses to these tragedies have demonstrated our great resolve and ability to respond as a Nation.
Several agencies play key roles in overseeing port security in the United States. These agencies work collaboratively to ensure the safety and security of U.S. ports and the maritime transportation system.
MARAD promotes the development and maintenance of a resilient maritime transportation system, including ports, by providing grants for infrastructure projects, technical assistance, and support for port security initiatives. MARAD’s cooperative efforts include chairing the National Port Readiness Network (NPRN) to ensure readiness of Commercial Strategic Seaports to support the deployment of military forces and national contingencies. Together with eight other Federal agencies and military commands, this network supports the maintenance of Port Readiness Committees. MARAD further facilitates the collaborative development of Port Readiness Plans, voluntary planning documents focused on port facility readiness at Commercial Strategic Seaports.
The primary statutory objective of the PIDP is to enhance the safety, efficiency, or reliability of the movement of goods into, out of, around, or within a port. Each project funded through the PIDP must address or advance at least one of these critical objectives. PIDP grants support efforts by ports and industry stakeholders to improve port and related freight infrastructure to meet the nation’s freight transportation needs and ensure our port infrastructure can meet anticipated growth in freight volumes. The PIDP provides funding to ports in both urban and rural areas for planning and capital projects. It also includes a statutory set-aside for small ports to continue to improve and expand their capacity to move freight reliably and efficiently and support local and regional economies.
In fiscal year (FY) 2023, MARAD received 153 eligible applications for the PIDP from projects across 37 states and 4 U.S. territories, with a combined funding request exceeding $2.8 billion with only $662 million available funding for FY 2023. Similarly, in FY 2023, the United States Marine Highway Program, received 16 eligible applications from projects in 12 states and 2 territories, requesting a total of approximately $46.4 million in funding with only $12.123 million available funding for FY 2023. These numbers highlight the continued need for strengthening of the nation's supply chains.
In FY 2023, MARAD awarded grants to fund 41 port improvement projects across the nation, including several notable PIDP projects that focused on safety improvements across various ports:
- Cold Bay, AK: Construction of a new dock with significant operational and safety benefits compared to the old dock.
- Kawaihae, HI: Access and lighting enhancements to improve safety.
- Astoria, OR: Major infrastructure upgrades, including fire protection measures.
- Freeport, TX: Site improvements facilitating safer cargo movement and dedicated truck lanes.
- San Diego, CA: Lighting enhancements to enhance safety.
- Red Wing, MN: Mooring improvements aimed at enhancing safety during barge operations.
Another noteworthy FY 2023 PIDP project incorporating security enhancements is underway at the North Carolina State Port Authority in Wilmington, NC. This comprehensive project involves reconfiguring port access, relocating security checkpoints, installing a gate operating system, enhancing railroad crossings, constructing a truck queuing area, implementing new cybersecurity tools, and constructing guard and badging facilities.
Addressing cybersecurity and technology concerns, the FY 2024 PIDP Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) included two critical provisions:
- LOGINK Prohibition: In compliance with Section 825 of the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the FY 2024 PIDP NOFO prohibits the utilization or provision of certain Chinese transportation logistics platforms. This measure aims to safeguard against potential security risks associated with these platforms.
- Each applicant selected for federal funding must demonstrate consideration and mitigation of physical and cyber security risks relevant to their project. Projects failing to adequately address these risks will be required to do so before receiving funds. MARAD and the Office of the Secretary's Chief Information Officer will conduct risk assessments on all grant projects, with additional cyber risk mitigation activities mandated for moderate or higher risk projects.
Section 3529 of the FY23 NDAA directed MARAD, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, to conduct a study to assess whether there are cybersecurity or National security threats posed by foreign manufactured cranes at United States ports. Our report will be delivered to Congress soon.
In conclusion, PIDP plays a vital role in enhancing the safety, efficiency, reliability, and resilience of our nation's ports. The projects highlighted underscore our commitment to enhancing and modernizing the Maritime Transportation System which is vital to our national and economic security missions.
I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this Subcommittee and thank you for the support that you have shown the Maritime Administration. I welcome any questions you may have.
